Our beginnings

I'm not a special-ed teacher. So when we conceived the plan for Merciful Love Family Fellowship, the idea of having a separate class for the kids with a traditional-type service for the parents was scrapped right away. In fact, such an arrangement would have recreated the same difficulty we were experiencing at the former church: how to keep the kids from disrupting the adult service when everyone is meeting together in one relatively small apartment. Having a combined adults & children's meeting would make it more workable for us, by having all the parents available to help their own children learn to participate in the various activities. It also meant that the parents, most of whom would have little or no knowledge of Christianity, could be learning about the Bible in an enjoyable, non-intellectual way. When one of my closest friends, Mrs. Chu, heard about our design for the new church plant, she said, "I want to come to your church!" She had occasionally attended services and special activities at our first church over the past several years, but found things hard to understand. And she liked the idea of her daughter learning to get along with special-needs kids. So they've been coming since the beginning. And Mrs Chu became a believer within the first few months!

None of our other parents have embraced Christ as Savior yet. Yes, we would like to see this happen sooner rather than later, but we are content to let the Holy Spirit work on their hearts through the truth they are hearing as they come back week after week.

So what exactly do we DO? I guess I'll save that for the next post!

What is Merciful Love Family Fellowship? It is a small church plant in the Special Administrative Region of Macau, China. An offshoot of the first church planted in Macau by Evangelical Free Church missionaries from the US and Hong Kong, it was begun specifically to accommodate one member family with a 10-year-old autistic son.

The mother church really did a good job at making the Lei family welcome, although Ka Hei’s frequent temper tantrums could be significantly disruptive. But then the difficulties mounted when the Leis became more excited about their new faith in Christ, and wanted to invite their friends to church with them. Most of their closest friends were also parents of autistic children!

In God’s perfect plan, it was just then that my husband Bruce and I were assigned by our mission to begin a second church plant. Included in His provision was a residential apartment donated by a Christian woman from Hong Kong, which was designated for use as a dormitory for short-term ministry teams, but was also available for us as a location for the new work.

And so on August 13, 2006, we launched Merciful Love Family Fellowship as a “safe” place for families with autistic children to come and learn about Jesus.

And of course that is when I should have started this blog. But ever since we started I have just been too busy with preparing Sunday activities! So now we are on a three-month “home assignment” (what they used to call missionary furlough)—the first month corresponding with Autism Awareness month, even. Surely it is “meant” that I finally get going.

I have three different purposes for starting this blog.

One: to have a permanent place to keep records of all the different activities we’ve done. I would be
delighted if this also benefits others looking for ideas.
Two: to help those who are praying for or are otherwise interested in MLFF keep abreast of what’s
going on.
Three: feedback from others working in similar areas. MLFF has been a learn-as-we-go ministry, and I am
always on the lookout for helpful ideas!!

I am really excited about networking with others who know, love, and work with children with autism and other mental and physical handicaps, whether Christian or not. Merciful Love Family Fellowship is unashamedly a church ministry, but we are also seriously committed to helping “our” children develop socially and intellectually through our activities. Thanks for stopping by the blog!